Add your thoughts using the KWL approach. Thinking about Game Mechanics, Games-Based Learning or gamification.....
K = What do you know?
W = What do you want to learn?
L = What have you learned? (we'll do this last one later)
Reflection
Add your thoughts here and also add to the KWL notes above, where appropriate.
Level 2
Where do I start?
Identify some learning outcomes that you will be visiting with your students in upcoming lessons. Note down here some ways they might benefit from gamification.
Observe and reflect
After playing a game what are your personal thoughts about the design and elements involved and how any of these could help you in thinking about doing the same in a learning activity?
I played slither (slither.io) and reflect on the design and elements. It is an amazingly simple game but extremely well designed.
Your snake just moves around eating dots and growing bigger. That is pretty simple!
But:
The game can be played successfully by my five year old son and by me, regardless of our different skill levels.
The fact that the other snakes are controlled by real people totally changes the nature of the game because of the social element.
The top 10 list at the top adds to this.
The scoring system is very simple, but addictive because you always feel that you can improve and there is immediate feedback.
The strategy automatically changes as your snake grows bigger. I didn't realise this until I did this analysis. The view zooms out as your snake grows bigger and the snake takes much longer to turn. This changes the game from a game of reflexes into more of a strategy game in which you have to analyse the bigger picture and plan a path. So the game changes as you increase in skill, hence maintaining interest.
These changes maintain a balance between different level players. Smaller snakes are more agile, which gives them an advantage over larger snakes if they can get close. So even newer players have a chance and can't be easily killed by more experienced players. But larger snakes can use more strategy.
Overall I was astounded by how many different elements could be included in one very simple game, and could see that it is all these elements that make it so enjoyable.
I liked the analysis system that uses four different types of FUN. But at one point they said that good games seem to have 3 out of the 4. I'm not sure about this. A lot of the newer games, such as slither and other tablet games, have hard fun and people fun, but no easy fun (exploration) or serious fun. The social element is very strong. So social + challenge is enough to make a successful game even without serious or exploration.
Flappy bird is another example. It doesn't really have serious or exploration, but it is amazingly addictive purely because of the challenge (and the social element is normally there too.)
Level 3
Premiers Reading Challenge Reflection
Write your thoughts here and or print a rubric and circle the appropriate areas you notice as you review the rules of this gamified experience. (feel free to scan or photograph and upload your rubic to this page.)
This one was trickier because it depends whether the PRC is used by an individual or as part of a school/class program. The latter would include far more game based elements.
Dynamic - constraints, progression (3-4), relationships (2 - but it depends), narrative (1 - but lots in the books), emotion (2)
Mechanics - challenges, co-operation, rewards, win states, feedback
Components - 2
FUN: Hard fun 2-4, Serious fun 3, Easy fun 4, social fun 1-2 (But it depends a lot on how it is organised. The reading lists and rewards are one element of game based learning, but then doing it with others adds a lot more elements because of the social or competitive aspects.
Zombie Learning Reflection
Write your thoughts here and or print a rubric and circle the appropriate areas you notice as you review the rules of this gamified experience.
(feel free to scan or photograph and upload your rubic to this page.)
I was amazed by how many different elements were included in this:
Dynamics - constraints, narrative (4-5), progression (5), emotion (4-5), relationships (5)
Mechanics - challenges, chance, cooperative, resource acquisition, rewards, transactions, win states?, feedback
Components - achievements, collection, combat?, content unlocking, leaderboards, quests, teams, virtual goods.
You Try/ A final reflection
Add your finished plan (see below) here as an upload file or as text you have cut and pasted into the wiki. We would love to give you feedback to help you get started. (remember it does not need be perfect, it is a first attempt). Alternatively it can be emailed to us instead.
The final activity is to plan an activity using gamification. I have a small year 7 Science class with a lot of students with learning difficulties. In the past I've found that activities with rewards really work well with them. But I've never systematised it in a game like format. One idea I have is to try a short term fantasy game type approach to motivate them. This wouldn't be quite as closely connected to the content, but I think it would still work well with them.
For example, I could give them "gold coins" for achievements (such as completing tasks in class, achieving outcomes etc). They would use these to equip a character, so the character improves as they learn Science and achieve outcomes. I have used simple combat systems with dice, and it would be easy to occasionally let them use their character to fight some sort of challenge and receive a physical reward (e.g. lollies, canteen voucher). My thinking is that the parts that are not relevant to our outcomes (such as fighting a battle if that is included) wouldn't take much time. Most of the time the system is used it would be for students to earn gold coins by achieving outcomes, so we would be doing the same activities we would normally do, but slightly modified.
We already include gamification in our programs (e.g. water management and ecosystem games, natural selection simulations, games based on angles/balls/collisions/projectile motion). But I'm hoping what I've learnt in this course will help me to recognise ways to improve these, and to come up with new ideas that are closely related to the syllabus.
Initially I didn’t know anything about game based learning or gamification. But now I am familiar with the different elements of what makes a good game. Instead of vaguely thinking that a game is “good,” I can recognise the elements that actually make it good. I probably won’t design own games in the short term, but I will use this in two ways: 1. To introducing gamification into some of my normal learning activities 2. To recognise which games are actually helpful to implement in the classroom It was also very helpful to see the difference between dynamics and mechanics.
Finally
Have you filled in the evaluation? Have you found the bonus level content?
Badges & Rewards
Level 1
KWL (Levels 1 and 3)
Add your thoughts using the KWL approach. Thinking about Game Mechanics, Games-Based Learning or gamification.....K = What do you know?
W = What do you want to learn?
L = What have you learned? (we'll do this last one later)
Reflection
Add your thoughts here and also add to the KWL notes above, where appropriate.Level 2
Where do I start?
Identify some learning outcomes that you will be visiting with your students in upcoming lessons. Note down here some ways they might benefit from gamification.Observe and reflect
After playing a game what are your personal thoughts about the design and elements involved and how any of these could help you in thinking about doing the same in a learning activity?
I played slither (slither.io) and reflect on the design and elements. It is an amazingly simple game but extremely well designed.
Your snake just moves around eating dots and growing bigger. That is pretty simple!
But:
I liked the analysis system that uses four different types of FUN. But at one point they said that good games seem to have 3 out of the 4. I'm not sure about this. A lot of the newer games, such as slither and other tablet games, have hard fun and people fun, but no easy fun (exploration) or serious fun. The social element is very strong. So social + challenge is enough to make a successful game even without serious or exploration.
Flappy bird is another example. It doesn't really have serious or exploration, but it is amazingly addictive purely because of the challenge (and the social element is normally there too.)
Level 3
Premiers Reading Challenge Reflection
Write your thoughts here and or print a rubric and circle the appropriate areas you notice as you review the rules of this gamified experience. (feel free to scan or photograph and upload your rubic to this page.)This one was trickier because it depends whether the PRC is used by an individual or as part of a school/class program. The latter would include far more game based elements.
Dynamic - constraints, progression (3-4), relationships (2 - but it depends), narrative (1 - but lots in the books), emotion (2)
Mechanics - challenges, co-operation, rewards, win states, feedback
Components - 2
FUN: Hard fun 2-4, Serious fun 3, Easy fun 4, social fun 1-2 (But it depends a lot on how it is organised. The reading lists and rewards are one element of game based learning, but then doing it with others adds a lot more elements because of the social or competitive aspects.
Zombie Learning Reflection
Write your thoughts here and or print a rubric and circle the appropriate areas you notice as you review the rules of this gamified experience.(feel free to scan or photograph and upload your rubic to this page.)
I was amazed by how many different elements were included in this:
Dynamics - constraints, narrative (4-5), progression (5), emotion (4-5), relationships (5)
Mechanics - challenges, chance, cooperative, resource acquisition, rewards, transactions, win states?, feedback
Components - achievements, collection, combat?, content unlocking, leaderboards, quests, teams, virtual goods.
You Try/ A final reflection
Add your finished plan (see below) here as an upload file or as text you have cut and pasted into the wiki. We would love to give you feedback to help you get started. (remember it does not need be perfect, it is a first attempt). Alternatively it can be emailed to us instead.The final activity is to plan an activity using gamification. I have a small year 7 Science class with a lot of students with learning difficulties. In the past I've found that activities with rewards really work well with them. But I've never systematised it in a game like format. One idea I have is to try a short term fantasy game type approach to motivate them. This wouldn't be quite as closely connected to the content, but I think it would still work well with them.
For example, I could give them "gold coins" for achievements (such as completing tasks in class, achieving outcomes etc). They would use these to equip a character, so the character improves as they learn Science and achieve outcomes. I have used simple combat systems with dice, and it would be easy to occasionally let them use their character to fight some sort of challenge and receive a physical reward (e.g. lollies, canteen voucher). My thinking is that the parts that are not relevant to our outcomes (such as fighting a battle if that is included) wouldn't take much time. Most of the time the system is used it would be for students to earn gold coins by achieving outcomes, so we would be doing the same activities we would normally do, but slightly modified.
We already include gamification in our programs (e.g. water management and ecosystem games, natural selection simulations, games based on angles/balls/collisions/projectile motion). But I'm hoping what I've learnt in this course will help me to recognise ways to improve these, and to come up with new ideas that are closely related to the syllabus.
Initially I didn’t know anything about game based learning or gamification. But now I am familiar with the different elements of what makes a good game. Instead of vaguely thinking that a game is “good,” I can recognise the elements that actually make it good. I probably won’t design own games in the short term, but I will use this in two ways:
1. To introducing gamification into some of my normal learning activities
2. To recognise which games are actually helpful to implement in the classroom
It was also very helpful to see the difference between dynamics and mechanics.
Finally
Have you filled in the evaluation? Have you found the bonus level content?